Canada's Colonies by Ken S. Coates A History of the Yukon and Northwest Territories (Canadian Issue)

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Synopsis

Furs, gold, whales, oil--the reason for going north has always been to empty the treasure house. The northern territories are vast and sparsely populated, so southern Canadians have been content to consider the North a colony, not a true part of Canada.

Since the first British naval expeditions to the "Frozen North," the history of the region has been romanticised. This book presents that history as seen from the North itself. Ken Coates begins by describing the resilient pre-European cultures of the Dene and Inuit peoples. Chapters are devoted to each period of development--the fur trade, Arctic whaling, the Klondike Gold Rush, military projects like the Alaska Highway, Ottawa's "bureaucratisation" of the North, and the resource projects of recent years.

First published in 1985, this book shows that modern northern politics have deep roots in the true history of "Canada's colonies."

Ken Coates is a well known Canadian historian, specializing in the history of the Yukon and Northern Canada in general. While he was Vice President at the University of Northern British Columbia, he had the opportunity to travel throughout northern BC. "A Traveller's Guide to Northern British Columbia is the result of these travels. It is co-authored by his wife Carin Holroyd, a university Researcher.